Four professors become arts and sciences academy fellows

By Kathleen Maclay, Media Relations| 20 April 2009

BERKELEY — Four University of California, Berkeley, professors are among the latest leaders in the arts, humanities and sciences named fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences today (Monday, April 20).

UC Berkeley's newest AAAS members are Mary Elizabeth Berry, Dean's Professor of East Asian History and chair of UC Berkeley's History Department; Steven Gwon Sheng Louie, professor of physics; Dan Slobin, professor emeritus in psychology and linguistics; and Philip Tetlock, the Lorraine Tyson Mitchell Chair II in Leadership and Communication and a professor of leadership at the Haas School of Business.

They expand UC Berkeley's previous list of 222 AAAS fellows and are among a group of 210 new fellows and 19 foreign honorary members who this year are joining one of the nation's most prestigious honorary societies and its center for independent policy research. Fellows and foreign honorary members are nominated and elected to the academy by current members.

Matthew Tirrell, dean of engineering at UC Santa Barbara and incoming dean of bioengineering at UC Berkeley, was also named a AAAS fellow today. He will join UC Berkeley's faculty on July 1.

"Since 1780, the academy has served the public good by convening leading thinkers and doers from diverse perspectives to provide practical policy solutions to the pressing issues of the day," said Leslie Berlowitz, the chief executive officer for AAAS. "I look forward to welcoming into the academy these new members to help continue that tradition."

"These remarkable men and women have made singular contributions to their fields, and to the world," said Academy President Emilio Bizzi. "By electing them as members, the academy honors them and their work, and they, in turn, honor us."

New members will be inducted during ceremonies scheduled for October in Cambridge, Mass.